A nostalgic journey to the past to relive the golden days of entertainment!

Friday, March 9, 2012

THE LAST DAYS OF BILLIE HOLIDAY

When jazz singer Billie Holiday was first starting out in the 1930s, her phrasing and voice were audio gold. She did not have the great singing voice, but on those jazz 78s of the 1930s, Holiday could express a mood in a few short minutes. Holiday had a very sad life. She was born in 1915, not knowing who her father was and living a childhood where her mother reportedly was a prostitute. By the age of fourteen, Billie herself was a prostitute, and as early as 1930 she and her mom were arrested in a raid.

The 1930s saw Billie at the height of her career. She worked with some greats of jazz like Count Basie, Artie Shaw, and Teddy Wilson. She not only broke color barriers but transended them. Unfortunately, her success was not enough to conquer her past demons. By the 1950s, Holiday's drug abuse, drinking, and relationships with abusive men caused her health to deteriorate. She appeared on the ABC reality series The Comeback Story to discuss attempts to overcome her misfortunes. Her later recordings showed the effects of declining health on her voice, as it grew coarse and no longer projected its former vibrancy.

On March 28, 1957, Holiday married Louis McKay, a Mafia enforcer, who like most of the men in her life was abusive, but he did try to get her off drugs. They were separated at the time of her death, but McKay had plans to start a chain of Billie Holiday vocal studios, à la Arthur Murray dance schools.

Holiday's late recordings on Verve constitute about a third of her commercial recorded legacy and are as popular as her earlier work for the Columbia, Commodore and Decca labels. In later years, her voice became more fragile, but it never lost the edge that had always made it so distinctive.

In early 1959 she found out that she had cirrhosis of the liver. The doctor told her to stop drinking, which she did for a short time, but soon returned to heavy drinking. By May she had lost twenty pounds. Friends Leonard Feather, Joe Glaser, and Allan Morrison tried to get her to check into to a hospital, but she put them off.

On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person. Her funeral mass was held at Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City.

Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times, who had been the narrator at Billie Holiday's 1956 Carnegie Hall concerts and had partly written the sleeve notes for the album The Essential Billie Holiday described her death in these same 1961-dated sleeve notes:

"Billie Holiday died in the Metropolitan Hospital, New York, on Friday, July 17, 1959, in the bed in which she had been arrested for illegal possession of narcotics a little more than a month before, as she lay mortally ill; in the room from which a police guard had been removed – by court order – only a few hours before her death, which, like her life, was disorderly and pitiful. She had been strikingly beautiful, but she was wasted physically to a small, grotesque caricature of herself. The worms of every kind of excess – drugs were only one – had eaten her ... The likelihood exists that among the last thoughts of this cynical, sentimental, profane, generous and greatly talented woman of 44 was the belief that she was to be arraigned the following morning. She would have been, eventually, although possibly not that quickly. In any case, she removed herself finally from the jurisdiction of any court here below"...

58 comments:

Wow! I had never known about Billie Holiday's life! This was a great post and so heartbreaking too. I can't imagine laying there dying as police are raiding your room...seems a little disrespectful to me I guess. Thank you so much for joining in the blogathon!

My mom had just started her nursing career in Metropolitan Hospital back in 1959. Billie Holiday was one of her first patients. I remember her telling me about her arrest and doing drugs in her hospital room. At that time, I had never heard of Billie. I was only 16. I know my mom was heartbroken about the tragedy of her life. Since then, I became a huge fan. That's my small link to that great woman. I love her music, her voice and her tender expression.

Hi Whitney!. You can look for some of Billie Holiday's music on "You Tube". There you can listen to some of her original songs such as "Strange Fruit". They may sound a little muffled,but you can be sure the songs are her originals!.

To hear her in true live form the band swinging her fi gers snapping the strongest g smell of igars and cigerrets it's dark and smells of perfume cologne booze scuffed shoes laughter and black men in suits girl!Fine with processed hair feather boas slinky straps red lipstick

To hear her in true live form the band swinging her fi gers snapping the strongest g smell of igars and cigerrets it's dark and smells of perfume cologne booze scuffed shoes laughter and black men in suits girl!Fine with processed hair feather boas slinky straps red lipstick

I knew her life was bad, but I didn't know it was that bad! My mother loves her and the first thing she does in the car is start her CD up! Billie made lots of people smile...it's too bad she couldn't herself. Lovely post!

Very loosely based on Billie's life is correct, had they put the real truth of Lady Day's life, the film would probably had never gotten produced. I love the "Lady In Satin" album, such a waste of a great woman with an awesome talent to interpret the tunes she sang...Jazz at it's best

I cannot believe that the movie LADY SINGS THE BLUES is a LIE! Louis Mckay was an abuser & in the mafia!Her MOM was a prostitute not a maid! EW! All these yrs. I believed the movies version of events! VERY HEART BROKEN!��

Although the circumstances of her life were sad,Billie did'nt live a sad life! She had a ball living it up,despite some unfortunate experiences. The movie had NOTHING on her real life,it was ALL made up,Louis was'nt some shinin g prince,he was a pimp,all that romantic shtick was BS

Not only was he a pimp, he was a low level hit man for the Mafia. He threatened to kill Billie if she divorce him. He wanted her royalties from her book and recordings, and he got them, after she was murdered in her hospital ward. He did not even pay for her funeral and left her in an unmarked grave in St Raymond's Cemetery pauper section, a year after she died; while he racked in millions of dollars from her music and book royalties. Mckay collaborated with Harry Anslinger and the FBI to destroyed one of the greatest Jazz singers of the 20th Century. For example, Mckay would beat her with steel knuckles in her stomach and that is why she would have to have her ribs tied and sit on a stool to perform. Louis McKay, contributed to her destruction by his frequent beatings of her to support him, and then painted her as a derange, degenerate woman, he tried to save from her sex and drug addictions. McKay collaborated with the FBI and Harry Anslinger, the Head of Drug Enforcement, at the time. This is on public record, along with his boasting about beating his prostitute if she did not bring him money. Berry Gordy produced the film to launch and cement Diana Ross career. And, it did.

Louis McKay's family has inherited Billie's fortune and like Louis, refused to allow her remains to be re-buried with the other Jazz Greats in Woodlawn Cemetery. McKay used her mother as an excuse to keep her in St. Raymonds Cemetery.

The truth about Billie Holiday and Louis Mckay's true role in her life will some day be exposed. What the government did to her merits an apology and Billie Holiday should be given the Congressional Medal of Freedom for her her contribution to Civil Rights and the Arts.

Thank you for putting this unfortunate comment in its place. Addiction is a disease, not a "personal weakness", and attitudes like that are what discourage people from getting help. We all need to do our part to combat such ignorance. RIP Billie Holliday...

I knew about the drugs and the hospital raid, but the poor woman was also a teenage prostitute? It's a miracle that she managed to record as much as she did. I wonder if she ever had the will to live, given how tough her upbringing was.

Lobosco, I'm glad you chose to pay tribute to Billie Holiday! She certainly had a voice like no other. I could listen to her and Dinah Washington all day.

You've written a great tribute. I enjoyed reading information I didn't know about Billie! It's sad really that her troubled life and death often overshadow her amazing talent. A voice like an angel and a death undeserving of anyone.

I did not know Lady Billie's life was so tragic. My heart pains and tears swell in my eyes and down my cheeks. I get angry when people refer to her illinesses as weaknesses. She was born in a physical and emotional war. You can hear her spirit and soul in her singing. I believe she continued to look for ways to deal with all of her pains. I never knew she went through all of that. It is horrible the way she was mistreated by people and organizations. She was a beautiful talented lady. God Bless her spirit.Brenda McDougal

Than you for the tribute to Lady Billy. She was a beautifully talented lady. My heart pains and tears roll down my cheeks. It is so horrible the way people and organizations treated her. I get angry when people refer to her pain and illnesses as weaknesses. This beautiful lady was born in a physical, emotional, and financial war with so little resources available to her. You can feel her spirit and soul when you listen to her music. I see her continually trying to deal with all the pain she was in.

I played the role of Joe Glaser (Billies manager) in a play called Shades of Blue: The Decline and Fall of Lady Day written by Steven Carl McCasland! We just closed with our last performance 2 days ago. It was a raw look at this super talented individual. It dealt with her last years all the way until the day of her death. She was handcuffed to her bed when she died at Metropolitan Hospital. This play had no music and it was factual! It was a great piece of work by all the actors involved and great writing. Look for it in the future! A must see. All performances were sold out and it's a great way to understand her life. To hide her pain (she was raped at the age of 13 the same time her mother left her) very sad life!

She was NEVER handcuffed to her bed,a policewoman sat outside her door until Flo (Kennedy) had her removed. Joe Glaser actually snitched on her and had her arrested in an effort to get her away from Joe Guy and the drugs,but in reality he almost ruined her professionally.Her circumstances,though unfortunate,did not make her life a sad one,truth be told she had a ball,even up to her death when the nurse caught her sniffing coke and called the police!!

I concur, Audra McDonald is a must see show. She was Ms Day from the moment she walked on to the stage...until she exit...Ms Ross gave an okay performance but Ms McDonald gives a super performance, she paid honor to Ms Day.

I have always been a fan of The Lady.The strength of her sole always came through her music.I just watched the Audra McDonald performance and am amazed with the resemblance. Simply stunning. The Lady would be proud.

Billie Holiday was beautifully talented and lived a tragic life filed with heartache. Drugs seemed to be an escape from life, painful memories and that heartache. What's awesome is that she created and left a beautiful legacy in the midst of all the heartache and tragedy...and for that I say thank you Ms. Holiday, for sharing your gift and your life.

"Lady Sings The Blues" is a lovely movie BUT you might want to do your do diligence when it comes to the REAL life and music of Billie Holiday and not just re-write what others have written ! Further more BILLIE HOLIDAY'S sound from the BEGINNING till the END as well as her FIRST record to her LAST defined JAZZ. She and Louis Armstrong's horn HELP to formulate America's Greatest art form!

Thank you! The film was well made and entertaining, but it was in no way true to Billie Holliday's life. Her actual life was substantially more harrowing and devastating, in amazing ways that were too much for Hollywood to handle at the time (perhaps ever). The truth of her life substantiates her artistry, and it is worth seeking out...

Stop it, please. Many people were discriminated against in the past. Not only black people. There was no conspiracy to hold blacks down with drugs. Many successful black people made it. We have a black president. Stop with the victim.It's been beaten like a dead horse.

What other Americans were refused the careers of their choice,forced to live in substandard housing,denied or limited bank loans,their children plagued by drugs not made available anywhere else but in black neighb orhoods,and that BLACK president was raised in white surroundings with the benefit of years of white opportunity denied blacks.....many have made it,but most still struggle thanks to past policies

CebuSalute I'm sorry but you are very misinformed. Billy was HUNTED down by Anslinger & taken on his personal mission to destroy her because she was a "dirty black N" he was the head of the Federal Narcotics Bureau & made it his mission to take down as many blacks, asians, & latinos as he could. This hatred & panic is STILL going on today & you can see it today in any jail or prison by the number of minorities who are imprisoned for minor drug crimes versus their white counter parts. The Drig War was started by him & Billy was the poster child for it. If you don't know this then you need to do more research. I recommend reading Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari. It's very informative about how she was hunted down and essentially murdered.

Being born in the 1915 living through awful times for Blacks in America. Treatment of any kind for any thing was virtually impossible. I am a recovered addict I get it Billie. Some have to die in order for others to live. RIP Ms Billie.

I agree Being born Blacks in America living through those awful times. Their have been attempt over the years to try and separate the two things as if Newton's law of action and reaction have no bearing as if she was living in a vacuum.

The first paragraph, she didn’t know her father and mother was prostitute. “By the age of fourteen, Billie herself was a prostitute” Great. But wouldn’t have been more honest to ask the question what must it have been like to be born black in an America were there was no place for you and your people. and how that contribute to that sad and tragic life you all love so much. Has if there is a separation of those two things their is not. I'm bored to death of the never ending playing of the sad life of Billie Holiday ( were I no longer say I’m fan of her’s) but who is it for ? maybe an answer to her sad life can be fond in Leroy Jones play the Dutchman, That maybe if she could have killed ten whites a day it may have been a panacea to her sad life.

You should research and read it , it will answer lot's of questions. I said it, the quote refereed to Charlie Parker if he could have killed ten white men a day he would have no need to play the Blues and it would have been the same for Billie.

What a wonderful extremely talented woman who unfortunately grew up in tragic circumstances. She chose to share her talent with the world. Unfortunately her addictions were stronger. People could we please STOP with saying her tragedy was because she was born black...yes, this caused her setbacks..but come on anyone born into those circumstances no matter what your color could have ended up and do end up in much worse shape.